The Edmund Pettus Bridge – Selma Alabama

On March 7, 1965, a Sunday, thousands of singing marchers were leaving Selma on their way to Montgomery, Alabama, the state Capital. These demonstrators were intending to demand of Governor George Wallace the right to vote. However, they never made it that far. On the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the gateway to the town of Selma, the marchers were savagely attacked and beaten by state and local police. A couple of days later Martin Luther King, Jr. led thousands of marchers on to the Edmund Pettus Bridge once again. However, to avoid a repeat confrontation, the marchers knelt and prayed, and turned around - rather than defy a court order. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) succeeded in getting the court order lifted. Then, on March 21, 1965, Dr. King led the marchers on the complete 54 mile march from Selma to Montgomery. In Montgomery, Dr. King delivered a historic speech outside the Capitol building. These events on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, directly led to Congress passing the Johnson sponsored 1965 Voting Rights Act. Over the years, there have been several reenactments of the historic march from Selma to Montgomery. A National Voting Rights Museum has been established at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the outskirts of the town of Selma. And, each year (now) state Senator Hank Sanders and his wife Rose, together with a local host committee, sponsor a Bridge Crossing Jubilee to re-enact and commemorate the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge crossing.

The battle for African American voting rights took place at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma Alabama